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Debt review, also known as debt counselling, is a formal process aimed at assisting individuals who are over-indebted. It allows for the restructuring of debt under the guidance of a registered debt counsellor and is governed by the National Credit Act, ensuring consumer protection.

The process involves negotiating with creditors to reduce monthly payments, extend payment terms and reduce interest rates, culminating in a court-approved repayment plan.

It's crucial to understand that while debt counsellors facilitate this process, the responsibility for the debt remains with the individual, who makes a single consolidated payment through a Payment Distribution Agency like Hyphen Technology PDA.

7 Step Process

Step 1

Your Creditors will be notified that you have applied for debt review when we send them the Form 17.1 notice

Step 2

Creditors have 5 business days to send us all your Certificate of Balances to confirm the inclusion of their accounts under debt review.

Step 3

Along with your Form 17.1 we send debit order cancellation letters to all your creditors instructing them to cancel any active debit orders that you may have. However, we advise changing your bank account completely to avoid the hassle of debit order cancellations .

Step 4

After receiving all Certificates of Balance, we issue a Form 17.2 notice to all your creditors stating that your application for debt review has been successful. At this stage you are determined to be over-indebted, and the debt review process must run its course until all your accounts have been paid up.

Step 5

After this we move on to the proposal stage, where we negotiate lowered payment instalments, extended terms and interest rates.

Step 6

If the creditors are happy with our proposed interest rates, new terms and lowered instalments, they will send us acceptance letters. If not, they may issue counteroffers.

Final Step

Once we have all the acceptance letters for all your accounts, we make an application to the NCT (Tribunal Court) to obtain a consent order or a Magistrate’s Court to obtain a granted court order. This order will protect your reduced instalments , extended payment terms and lowered interest rates and ensure that the creditors cannot increase them in the future.

All that remains for you to do is to maintain your payments each month until your debt is settled. You cannot miss a single payment. Doing so would mean that your creditors are likely to terminate your accounts from the debt review process.

You will receive a monthly statement from the payment distribution agent, Hyphen PDA which will show you exactly the payments your creditors are receiving each month. It is important to note your creditors/account balances that are reflecting on your monthly distribution PDA statement may not be 100% accurate - this is due to how interest rates are calculated and deferred monthly. You can consult our office at any time to request updated balances on your accounts.

When all your accounts are paid up your debt counsellor will issue you a Clearance Certificate, which will be sent to all your credit providers and all major credit bureaus, giving them instructions to exit you from the debt review process. The debt review will be removed, and you will then be debt free and eligible to make use of credit again.